Safety
by WolfInWonderland
Summary: Safety is the number one priority of the Scooting Legion. Safety of the troops, safety of humanity, and, in Eren's eyes, the safety of Armin. But when a mission goes wrong and Eren goes Titan, he may be the very thing that Armin needs safety from.


Safety

Safety is the number one priority of the Scooting Legion. Safety of the troops, safety of humanity, and, in Eren's eyes, the safety of Armin. But when a mission goes wrong and Eren goes Titan, he may be the very thing that Armin needs safety from.

***Mild Rant Ahead*******

**I know that this is only in slight passing mention but I just want to say that I wholeheartedly believe that Armin knows how to fight. And can fight almost as well as Annie if he actually fought more. I know that my interpretation of Armin's fighting abilities is entirely non canon and most people would disagree with me but I always imagine that Armin is the type that COULD be a badass fighter but chooses to come up with the plans instead. I mean seriously: 1) with all the books he's read there had to be a few self defense books in the lot (especially during training) so he would know the mechanics to fighting; 2) with his ability to think on the spot he should be able to pick out the weaknesses of his opponents—in a human fight—and find ways to get to the weaknesses—in a titan fight; 3) though he has little muscle he is small so he should have speed on his side and with a swift enough strike and sharp enough blades he should have no problem chipping away at the titans. I'm sure I could come up with a story's worth of why Armin could be an awesome fighter but my basic stand is this: without his friendly demeanor I think Armin could very well be a male Annie in the waiting.**

***Mild Rant Over***

**Also, established Eremin in this story so they are starting out as boyfriends already. Just in case anyone wanted to know.**

Safety

Armin wasn't known for his battle skills. He wasn't known for his weaponry. And he definitely wasn't known for his hand-to-hand combat abilities. But that wasn't to say he wasn't good at those things.

In fact, had Armin a bit more self confidence and a few months more time he could have very well ended up in the top ten of their training year.

Despite that though, Armin was the literal definition of "brain over brawn" and would much rather outwit his enemies than fight them. Which was why he stuck to planning out the attacks rather than carry them out.

Even if he was mostly on the sidelines and other people focused on his genius more than his strength, Eren know it was there. Which is why he trusted Armin's plans no matter what they were. His ideas rarely failed only because he knew the ins and outs of how titans acted along with what the human body could do in any situation.

Armin knew how to fight, he just used that information to determine how each of the fighters should attack instead.

Yes, Armin knew how to fight, and Eren knew Armin knew how to fight. That didn't mean Eren wanted Armin to have to use that knowledge though. And having it didn't meant Eren wasn't worried about his boyfriend as the Survey Corps went out for another recon mission outside the safety of the walls.

"That was amazing Armin!"

"Didn't know you had it in you!"

"Well he is friends with Mikasa after all, he should know how to fight at least a little."

The Survey Corp members of the 104th training squad continued complimenting Armin for his show of strength in the most recent take down of titans as they set up their camp for the night. The older members, except Levi, just smiled slightly at the youths' excitement seeing it as a sign of retaining at least some innocence.

Eren had his arm wrapped tightly around Armin's waist as Armin tried to work with helping.

"I knew he was capable of fighting, especially more then you horse face."

Jean would have started another of the two's infamous fights but Sasha called his attention before he could say anything back. Turning to help the girl with bringing out the food for dinner he only gave Eren the finger before forgetting about him altogether.

Eren chuckled at his friend-but-not-friend's gesture and tightened his hold on Armin.

The mission had started normally, dodging the few lingering titans, taking down the more stubborn ones and searching the few deserted villages they came across only to find them completely destroyed. Erwin had suggested they make camp once the sun was beginning to set as they spotted a small forest in the distance that had just enough tall trees to properly fight in in case of an ambush.

Before they could reach it though a group of titans intercepted the troop. Spooked, the horses ran in all different directions leaving everyone to pretty much fend for themselves. The older members, and Mikasa, had little problem taking down their titans and rushed to help the newer recruits. Eren was forbidden to transform into his titan as he and Mikasa worked to kill the hungry creature after the brunette and everyone was so distracted that they didn't realize that Armin's horse had run too far away from the group to be helped.

Eren immediately sought him out, being the first to realize that his smaller lover was not a part of the settling down team, and saw him standing on the remains of what used to be a house. Eren called out, drawing everyone's attention just as the large being thrashed forward trying to grab the blond.

Levi ran to the battle, hoping to stop the titan before the recruit was killed—or at least before it noticed the rest of them—but as the debris cleared the Corporal saw that the house was utterly destroyed with no blond hair in sight.

Sasha gasped before Eren could transform—hand at the ready to be bitten—and pointed to the titan's neck.

Armin was using his maneuver gear at a speed Eren had only truly seen once during training, the arrows deeply piercing the side flesh of neck, and timing his momentum struck back down at the nape when he was high enough. The titan fell in a smoking heap and Armin released himself then jumped away.

Eren had run to him, collecting the small teen in his arms as Armin smiled and reassured the slightly larger that he was alright but as Eren moved to grasp his hands Armin winced.

Hanji had said that his wrist was sprained and his entire left side was bruised from being hit by a piece of roof that he couldn't avoid. Armin tried to convince Eren that he was fine but the titan shifter refused to leave his side until they made camp.

Armin shifted in Eren's hold and brought the brunette back from his thoughts. Blue eyes gazed up into brown with a smile. "Erwin's telling everyone to eat then go to bed."

Eren smiled back, squeezing Armin's right, non injured side. "Then let's go—I'm starving."

_~Eremin~Eremin~Eremin~_

Spending the night out in titan territory was something no one ever got completely used to. The fear in the back of your mind that any titan could come and attack, even during the middle of the night, was a natural irk that didn't allow for a good night's sleep. Even in the forest having plenty of trees to get away in.

The watcher wasn't that much help either. Sure they could use the light from the campfire to keep tract of the immediate area, but the light only spanned a few meters, seven at most. Anything outside that space was unknown leaving all the tents to have to be almost piled atop each other just to keep them in check. The horses would have to be the alarm for anything moving outside the light.

And the sound of the horses is what woke up Armin first.

The blond rubbed his eyes, turning over to look at the still sleeping Eren before sitting up. He heard others moving around outside their tent and, judging by the lightening darkness, decided that it was predawn. That was too early for them to be moving yet, so what…?

Then there was a scream.

Armin scrambled out of the blankets, knocking Eren's arm off from its curled station around the blond and ran out of the tents.

He saw the others jerk out of their's as well, still ruffled from sleep and groggy eyes looking around for what was wrong.

The watcher was yelling at Levi. "What do we do Corporal?! How are we going to get away?"

Armin turned around to question the watcher but his eyes widened and the words got caught in his throat.

There, just out of reach of the campfire's light, was a titan. It was on its knees, in a catlike position ready to pounce with its large wide eyes just staring at them. It's grin was small, but growing the more the morning sun came up.

Armin heard Sasha scream.

There were ten, possible fifteen titans much like the first. They were kneeling all around the circle of the tents with some being further back and only now noticeable because of the rising sun.

The troop was entirely surrounded.

Armin stumbled back in shock, hoping to get closer to either the Corporal or Commander so that he wouldn't have to raise his voice too much. "Corporal Levi, what should we do?"

"They're only staying still because the sun hasn't fully come out yet," Hanji put in, and for all her usual excitement even her voice was lowered and slightly hesitant. She didn't know if she was feeling happy that such a large group was within touching distance or apprehensive that she didn't have her gear on for protection. None of them did.

Armin cleared his throat as Eren stumbled out of their tent, gasping at seeing the titans so close. "We need to put our gear on and get into the trees."

"Hurry and get ready," Erwin's strong and unwavering voice rang out so that even the people still in the tents would be able to hear. Those outside flinched at the loud sound and quickly looked to make sure none of the titans moved. "Go!"

It was a mad dash that to anyone outside would have looked stupid. Everyone raced back inside their tents, struggling to put on their gear so quickly that some knocked their tents down in the panic. Armin pulled Eren inside and shoved his equipment into his arms.

"Don't turn into a titan yet," Armin said, pulling his straps on as best he could. "We need to get away first before trying to fight them."

"I know," Eren agreed being less willing to have to fight again with Armin still injured. For as much as his desire to kill the titans flashed through him when he first saw them, seeing his boyfriend flinch every time he moved his side the wrong way brought out his need to keep Armin safe before the bloodlust.

"We have to move now!" They heard Erwin yelling.

Dashing outside the two saw that the titans had gotten closer, inching their way towards the group. Armin looked up. The only thing keeping the giants from springing into action was the thin layer of treetops keeping the light off them. If it weren't for those leaves the entire group could have already been dead.

But it wouldn't last for much longer.

The sound of activating gears went off at once and Mikasa's voice sounded distant from her spot on a branch. "Eren, Armin! Move!"

That was the trigger that set the titans off. Simultaneously they sprang to their feet and grabbed for the only two still on the ground. Eren pulled Armin with his as he used his own maneuver gear. They got out of the way just as a puff of debris clouded up where the titan had landed.

"Are we moving or fighting them?" Jean yelled.

"We don't need to fight them," Levi said to Erwin. The large blond looked to the other's weapon holster and saw that the Corporal only had two blades left after yesterday's battle.

He nodded. "Our best option is to try and leave the forest and outrun them on the horses." He motioned to the horsekeepers. "Call them so they reach the outside as soon as we do."

Without waiting Erwin forged ahead, leading the rest of the troops to the nearest exit. The others followed the Commander without complaint.

The weaved through the trees, some narrowly missing the throwback branches of the previous person and some having to readjust from landing on a broken edge that snapped like the twig it was underneath their feet. But they had to press forward. More titans had joined the original until the group was being chased by an entire mob of the giants. Even with Mikasa and Levi there they barely stood a chance should a confrontation happen.

Eren was trying to stay within sight of Armin. It was difficult. The trees interrupted his line of sight and sometimes Armin would not be where Eren had expected him. Sometimes he was ahead or further back so Eren tried to adjust to keep up with him.

They kept up this exchange of follow and lead, Armin doing his own best to stay with Eren once he realized what the brunette was trying to do, until the edge of the forest was in sight. The light seeping through the holes of the trees was empowering—even if they couldn't fight they could outrun the titans with how fast their horses were—and Eren felt his heart release some tension in seeing the horses waiting for them.

He looked back to where Armin should be but didn't see him. He looked upfront, the only blond was too far ahead and way too large to even be mistaken for his tactician, so he took a look back. And his heart stopped.

Armin's fuel tank was running low on air, not having had the time to restock since before yesterday, and was dropping him lower as he couldn't keep up with the pace. Armin didn't think he was too low yet but couldn't afford to glance behind him. But Eren could. And Eren saw the titan they had woken up to jumping into the air and lunging for the small blond.

"Armin!"

Hearing the yell Armin was able to dodge being grabbed by the unexpected titan's large hands but was unable to rise fast enough. The titan instead was able to grab his cords and slam the blond back, smashing into a tree and falling forward unconscious.

Eren let out a scream and before anyone else could understand what happened he bit right through his hand and transformed.

From the smoke he ran out in his titan form, uncaring to the voices calling for him to come back and focused entirely on the still falling teen.

Lunging forward the titan caught the small body and cradled him in his hands. Eren brought Armin up closer to his face to do a check over but his eyes widened. There was red, so much red, flowing down Armin's face and his eyes were still tightly closed despite being jostled during his fall. His breathing was erratic and coming out in short bursts of pants so quickly that Eren felt his heart constraint.

What was wrong with him? Did the hit his head too hard? Of course he did, there was too much blood for him not to. But something else had to be wrong for him to be breathing that harshly.

The titan that took Armin down was screaming at Eren, running his twelve meter body towards Eren's fifteen as if demanding he get his prey back. The other titans follow after, not really knowing much more then that Eren had a human and they wanted to eat it.

Eren placed Armin carefully on a branch higher than what the titan could reach. Then screamed out his rage and swung his fists when they got close.

He was taking each titan down, never leaving the spot in front of the tree to keep Armin safe from any more harm. A swing here and a five heads were rolling, a punch there had three more flying off. Each body that fell to the ground Eren made sure to stomp on, killing them instantly with a foot to their necks.

There was some rushing air sounds and the rest of the Survey Corps had finally arrived. They were taking down titan after titan, mostly those Eren couldn't reach from where he was, and despite Hanji's wails of pleading to take back at least one, soon all that was left from the attack was a bunch of smoke and an angry titan Eren.

Mikasa wasted no time in rushing to Eren, standing in front of his face much like the first time he lost control. Though not taking a punch at her like before, he still raged, screaming out whenever someone got too close to where Armin was. She tried to calm him down by running her hand over the space between his eyes.

"It's alright Eren. Armin's going to be okay. They have to see what's wrong though."

Eren was having non of it. The stress from fearing for Armin's life when he fought that titan all by himself, to the strain at seeing him be thrown back like a rag doll into the tree had him inconsolable.

The only one that could protect Armin was him. The only one that should protect Armin was him. And Eren couldn't even save his love in time before having him get hurt.

"We need to cut him out," Mikasa heard Erwin say and she turned a glare to him. She didn't say it outright but if any of them hurt Eren because they couldn't see his love for Armin and his anger at failing him then she wouldn't hesitate to defend them. After all, her loyalties were with her friends and not with the bushy eyebrowed older not-Armin.

Erwin stared back into her glare. "He can take care of Armin better as a human."

Levi "che'd" before leaping forward, not caring about Mikasa's angry yell as he cut Eren out of the titan neck. "This is why we shouldn't let brats out on missions," he muttered.

_~Eremin~Eremin~Eremin~_

The trip back to Wall Rose was a quick and tense one. Armin was admitted to having a minor concussion—surprisingly considering how hard his head had hit the tree—but with a slash on the back of his head which had caused the bleeding and that needed to be properly tended once they got back home.

The blond was still unconscious throughout the ride and Eren had not left his side on the cart. He made sure to be holding the smaller hand at all times and, even though not a titan anymore, growled at anyone who got too close. The few times Mikasa had heard him she whacked the back of his head to make him stop but there were a few times Jean had looked at them too long for Eren's comfort.

They were almost at the gates when Armin finally woke up.

"Eren?"

Surprised, the brunette quickly leaned over the laying teen to look into the blue eyes he had missed. "Armin?"

The blond smiled tiredly and tried to nod, wincing when the motion jostled his head wound. Eren elatedly swept the smaller into his arms and nuzzled Armin's neck as silent tears trekked down the titan shifter's face.

"Eren?"

"I thought I lost you…" he whispered into the soft skin still hiding his face.

Armin hummed as the memory returned. Taking hold of Eren's face he pulled up the other to gaze into the brown eyes he admired. "It'll take more then that to lose me Eren," he smiled, leaning up to get closer. "I can fight after all."

Eren took the chance and met Armin's lips with his. They shared in a kiss after experiencing the pains of anxiety and fear of losing and Eren deepened it to express just how scared he was of Armin leaving him behind.

Pulling away, Eren touched their foreheads together. Searching the other's eyes and finding the same love that he felt he whispered his wish only for his love to hear.

"I know that you can fight, but please, please let me protect you too."

Armin wasn't known for his battle skills. He wasn't known for his weaponry. And he definitely wasn't known for his hand-to-hand combat abilities. But that wasn't to say he wasn't good at those things.

But when Eren offered his protection like that, well, Armin wasn't against letting Eren do the fighting for him.

**End**

**I hate the ending. UGH! I can't write a decent love scene for these two! Maybe I should just stick to my idea of everyone taking the day off to play the new pokemon game. There should be no love it that that I can botch up. And that ended up being way longer then I thought. **_**Sigh**_** My poor fingers. But I hope you all enjoyed it somewhat…at least…maybe? Please leave a review and tell me what you think.**


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